


Tricks and gold

by green_carnation_product



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Edward Nygma is paranoid, M/M, Other, Reflection, basically that is it, nothing's easy about his relationship with Oswald
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24199039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/green_carnation_product/pseuds/green_carnation_product
Summary: Ed reflects on what Oswald means to him as he makes up his mind on whether or not to stay and fight for the city he couldn't care less about. A slightly alternative look at things.
Relationships: Oswald Cobblepot & Edward Nygma, Oswald Cobblepot/Edward Nygma
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31





	Tricks and gold

This was different. Ed knew well the feeling down his gut: he was left for something bigger. Not another man or woman, those could be removed from his way in a heartbeat. He could have easily proven himself to be superior to any of them, to carry more worth to Oswald, to know him better, to be able to take better care of him. 

But no. This was different. 

This was a fucking city. Ed could not compete with a massive fucking city, with its blocks and stones, ruins of Oswald's empire; the empire Oswald had always desperately, and, Ed had to admit, quite childishly, asked affection from. Even when he got it, he dared not indulge in it until Ed gave him a push. Stubborn unreasonable little man Oswald was! Just couldn't let go and enjoy life till he still could — as if in his field of work there was a happy ending to strive for. 

And now this city could give him nothing, nothing at all, zero, nul. No affection or gold. No man's land as it is. The fucking dying city, filled with sorrow, destroyed buildings, abandoned apartments and chunks of people with no hope left. Their homes demolished or about to get demolished, their lives ruined, their hearts filled with hate towards the authorities and abhorrence towards one another. Some of them once were good men, some were rotten to the core from the very start. Point is, none of them ever would be the same. There were children amongst them, who had had already killed for food, shelter or out of spite. Adults had had to kill for sure, most of them at least, even those who, before the war, used to be pathetic whiffets that spent their days bending backs in front of stupid deplorable bosses, just like Ed once had. There were no saints or innocents to protect there, only weak people, too afraid and too feeble to take actions and equally stupid to had at least taken precautions before the reality hit them hard. Oswald was far from stupid or weak, Oswald was worthy of everything, he was worthy of a better life, Ed knew that too well. 

Ed finally dropped the leash, leaving the fat obtuse canine to slob onto the dirty asphalt, and slipped inside the sub, taking extra care climbing down the stairs. Dark dim place, filled with hot grease and hydraulic oil smell enveloped him from head to toe. Ed could hear the city noises getting subdued as he was slowly approaching the control panel, leaving behind the outside world. The odour and the quietude acted as a good sedative to his nerves. The noise in his head, the aftermath of the emotional rollercoaster he got from the unexpected turn of events at the pier, has subsided. 

All he had to do now was to get the motor running. Then he could set off to the mainland as he had initially planned. He will leave the dog behind: there can be no arguing with other parts of his psyche on that matter nor compromises with the memory of Oswald. He's not going to bring the canine with him. How stupid and cocksure of Oswald was to ask him to do it in the first place! If Ed was about to leave this damned land alone, to leave without Oswald, he would carry no reminders along with him. He must become a new man and forget every bit of his past. 

He sat onto the steersman seat, took off the glasses and went still. 

He knew from a scientific report he had read in the old times that the most frequent localisations of wounds on a battlefield were the head, the chest and the abdomen, and the most common causes of death were fatal injures, acute blood loss and hemopneumothorax. His vivid imagination immediately came up with images of Oswald's jarred flesh. Ed could almost sense the smell arising from the metabolic processes of anaerobic bacteria in a wound and feel the thick blood on the tips of his fingers. 

...Welcome to the Riddle Factory, ladies and gentlemen, the countdown has begun! Which part of Penguin's body will get injured first? Which injury will become his end? What would be his last words? 

Ed had to try his best to ignore the crouching nausea. He knew too well that no man at the GCPD will try and help Oswald even if there would be an opportunity to do so. Oswald was not one of them and Ed hoped Oswald was not carrying unrealistic expectations on that matter. 

Oswald will most likely be dead in several hours after the fight starts. Ed will never see Oswald again, nor talk to him. That is one thing he could be confident in. 

He could of course talk to the memory of Oswald later on. Whether it was a curse or a blessing, his brain had Oswald's personality, habits and looks well documented and could reproduce them in the form of a detailed hallucination in the nick of time. All it'll need is a tiny-miny biochemical push. 

Ed apathetically wondered whether plans of that sort made him a complete weakling. But the other self, whichever self that was at this point, kept silent. Is Oswald's inevitable death something they should worry about? Is it still all about Oswald's approval? Was he still desperate for it?

Oswald made his choice, Ed reasoned. It will do no good to go and die along with him, which is exactly what would have happened if Ed decided to go and fight. Oswald had wished to follow his heart once again and once again his heart lead him to the route of self-destruction. Ed was not a man of that sort. Going back to the city would mean giving up on everything he was or wanted to be. 

Ed felt angry and lonely again. Couldn't Oswald have at least told him that he might change his mind? Then Ed would have been ready for this. A lump in the throat that he couldn't swallow and that he did not realize he had until now, became annoying and pronounced. He suddenly wished he could have ended this city for better. Would Oswald run off to fight for a literal desert? Ed thought that maybe, just maybe, if Strange had destroyed not only the Heaven with Ed's hands, but most of the city, Oswald would no longer care. They had a mutual agreement not to care for broken, useless things, didn't they? 

Ed abruptly thought of the gold and the goods the submarine has been filled to the brim with. He had seemed to have almost overlooked those. Although logically he knew he was supposed to care, he didn't. He did not even bother to ask for the exact amount he'll be getting when Oswald came up with the terms to their partnership. Maybe right now he had to celebrate or have a good laugh: all the goods were his. Maybe that is what Oswald thought he'll do. Pathetic! He didn't need Oswald's valuables, he would easily gotten enough money through the heists in whichever city he would have ended up in. And he could do that all by himself, without the help of Oswald's goons. 

He thought of what Oswald would have used money on first when they would have arrived at the mainland. Where would they settle? Would Oswald keep him by his side or would he want him gone? Ed realized he couldn't even think of the plan for himself right now. It felt wrong, rushed, it was not how this was supposed to go. Maybe that was Oswald's plan? Maybe it was all a trick, Oswald's way to take revenge, maybe this was an attempt to play on the one weakness Oswald knew Ed had — his need for things to go as planned? 

Ed felt a strong desire to do something Oswald won't expect of him. To prove that he was not as predictable as he appeared to be. But he wasn't sure what was the course of action Oswald would find unexpected on Ed's behalf. Perhaps, he thought, the worst scenario would be if Oswald gave it no thought whatsoever. If he was simply done with Ed for good. Ed chew on his lip. He had to ignore the bubbling feelings and come up with the plan that would make sense. That would allow him to check what Oswald's intentions really were. He stood up and rushed out to the outside. All he had to do was to first sneak into GCPD and see if Oswald really went there. If he did not, Ed will look for him until he finds him. He won't allow Oswald to trick him ever again.


End file.
